Wireless networks provide voice and/or data services to User Equipment (UE) such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and smart watches. Wireless networks may also provide what are known as mobility management services. Mobility management services are used to track/manage a connection between UE and the network as the UE moves across the network. For example, as a UE travels across a city, it may attach to a first base station to initiate a data session, and the network may handover the session to a second base station as the UE moves out of range of the first base station.
Mobility management settings are presently implemented on a network-wide basis. For example, in 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, if a UE is in an active Radio Resource Control (RRC) state for communicating with a base station, then a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) is used to establish a GTP tunnel between the base station and a mobility anchor node, such as a Serving Gateway (SGW). A GTP tunnel is also established between the SGW and an Internet Protocol (IP) anchor node, such as a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PGW). Whenever the active UE attaches to a new base station, a GTP tunnel is established between the SGW and the new base station in order to preserve an IP address for the UE. However, GTP tunneling is associated with a substantial overhead burden, and GTP tunneling encapsulation and de-encapsulation may only be performed by specific types of router nodes in the network.
Alternatively, if UE is in an idle RRC state, LTE networks use mobility management services to track the UE differently. Specifically, the core network divides the Radio Access Network (RAN) into Tracking Areas (TAs) that each include a set of geographically proximate base stations. If the idle UE crosses the boundary between one TA and another, this change is reported to the core network. If an active connection with the idle UE is then desired (e.g., in order to transmit a packet of data to the UE), the core network triggers a broadcast (page) message using knowledge of the TA where the UE resides to track down the idle UE.